WNBA All Star Game a "different" experience for competitive Nicky Anosike

APNicky Anosike goes up for a shot in the WNBA All Star Game at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut on Saturday. She had two points, five rebounds and a team-high three steals in the West's 130-118 victory over the East.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Nicky Anosike's WNBA All-Star Game debut went much like the rest of her career to this point -- stellar defense and a win.

The Staten Island native, of the Minnesota Lynx had two points, five rebounds and a team-high three steals in 17 minutes of action as the West beat the East 130-118 on Saturday at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut

"It was really different than a regular-season game. You've got to get out of competitive mode and just try to have fun," said Anosike, a fierce player from her days at St. Peter's Girls' HS and the University of Tennessee. "I normally have fun when I'm competing but, I'm just not used to being relaxed when I'm playing. I am an intense player so it was a little rough, but it was definitely enjoyable."

Anosike saw plenty of familiar faces at the All-Star Game, including Lynx teammate Charde Houston, who had 16 points, six boards and three steals on 7-for-10 shooting in 17 minutes.

"I mean I've said it before everyone here is so much older than us. So just to have someone in your age group is so nice to have here," Anosike said. "We came in (to the league) together. To be in our second year and be two of the three players from our class that made it to the All-Star game is huge."

MVP Swin Cash set an All-Star Game record with 22 points as the West shot 52 percent, including 18 for 39 from three-point land. Cash shot 10 for 16 from the floor and had six rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes played.

Diana Taurasi had 18 points and Sue Bird scored 16 to help the West to their first All-Star win in three years.

"I just tried to relax and have fun the whole weekend," said Anosike. "We all deserve to have a weekend like that because we've all worked so hard to get here."

Now, it will be back to work for the Lynx, highly regarded as the surprise of the WNBA first half while sitting in third place of the six-team Western Conference, just two games behind conference-leading Phoenix (which Minnesota beat 99-86 on Wednesday).

"I think we just have to take everything we've learned in the first half of the season and apply it to the second half," said Anosike the WNBA's leader in steals (52, 3.06 per game). "I think we started off the first half of the season pretty well (10-7).

"You know that's alright but we can do so much better. We've had a couple of losses there that we really should have pulled out due to inexperience and poor decision making. We didn't pull them out so we kind of have to use that and try to compete with the more experienced teams. We can use that first half as experience."